Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Virology logoLink to Journal of Virology
. 1988 Nov;62(11):4337–4345. doi: 10.1128/jvi.62.11.4337-4345.1988

Design of retrovirus vectors for transfer and expression of the human beta-globin gene.

A D Miller 1, M A Bender 1, E A Harris 1, M Kaleko 1, R E Gelinas 1
PMCID: PMC253869  PMID: 3172343

Abstract

Regulated expression of the human beta-globin gene has been demonstrated in cultured murine erythroleukemia cells and in mice after retrovirus-mediated gene transfer. However, the low titer of recombinant viruses described to date results in relatively inefficient gene transfer, which limits their usefulness for animal studies and for potential gene therapy in humans for diseases involving defective beta-globin genes. We found regions that interfered with virus production within intron 2 of the beta-globin gene and on both sides of the gene. The flanking regions could be removed, but intron 2 was required for beta-globin expression. Inclusion of beta-globin introns necessitates an antisense orientation of the gene within the retrovirus vector. However, we found no effect of the antisense beta-globin transcription on virus production. A region downstream of the beta-globin gene that stimulates expression of the gene in transgenic mice was included in the viruses without detrimental effects on virus titer. Virus titers of over 10(6) CFU/ml were obtained with the final vector design, which retained the ability to direct regulated expression of human beta-globin in murine erythroleukemia cells. The vector also allowed transfer and expression of the human beta-globin gene in hematopoietic cells (CFU-S cells) in mice.

Full text

PDF
4337

Images in this article

4340Image
on p.4340
4341Image
on p.4341
4342Image
on p.4342
4343Image
on p.4343

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Armentano D., Yu S. F., Kantoff P. W., von Ruden T., Anderson W. F., Gilboa E. Effect of internal viral sequences on the utility of retroviral vectors. J Virol. 1987 May;61(5):1647–1650. doi: 10.1128/jvi.61.5.1647-1650.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Beck E., Ludwig G., Auerswald E. A., Reiss B., Schaller H. Nucleotide sequence and exact localization of the neomycin phosphotransferase gene from transposon Tn5. Gene. 1982 Oct;19(3):327–336. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(82)90023-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Behringer R. R., Hammer R. E., Brinster R. L., Palmiter R. D., Townes T. M. Two 3' sequences direct adult erythroid-specific expression of human beta-globin genes in transgenic mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Oct;84(20):7056–7060. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.20.7056. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bender M. A., Miller A. D., Gelinas R. E. Expression of the human beta-globin gene after retroviral transfer into murine erythroleukemia cells and human BFU-E cells. Mol Cell Biol. 1988 Apr;8(4):1725–1735. doi: 10.1128/mcb.8.4.1725. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bender M. A., Palmer T. D., Gelinas R. E., Miller A. D. Evidence that the packaging signal of Moloney murine leukemia virus extends into the gag region. J Virol. 1987 May;61(5):1639–1646. doi: 10.1128/jvi.61.5.1639-1646.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Birnstiel M. L., Busslinger M., Strub K. Transcription termination and 3' processing: the end is in site! Cell. 1985 Jun;41(2):349–359. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(85)80007-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Cone R. D., Weber-Benarous A., Baorto D., Mulligan R. C. Regulated expression of a complete human beta-globin gene encoded by a transmissible retrovirus vector. Mol Cell Biol. 1987 Feb;7(2):887–897. doi: 10.1128/mcb.7.2.887. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Dzierzak E. A., Papayannopoulou T., Mulligan R. C. Lineage-specific expression of a human beta-globin gene in murine bone marrow transplant recipients reconstituted with retrovirus-transduced stem cells. Nature. 1988 Jan 7;331(6151):35–41. doi: 10.1038/331035a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Friend C., Scher W., Holland J. G., Sato T. Hemoglobin synthesis in murine virus-induced leukemic cells in vitro: stimulation of erythroid differentiation by dimethyl sulfoxide. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1971 Feb;68(2):378–382. doi: 10.1073/pnas.68.2.378. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Grosveld F., van Assendelft G. B., Greaves D. R., Kollias G. Position-independent, high-level expression of the human beta-globin gene in transgenic mice. Cell. 1987 Dec 24;51(6):975–985. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90584-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Hock R. A., Miller A. D. Retrovirus-mediated transfer and expression of drug resistance genes in human haematopoietic progenitor cells. Nature. 1986 Mar 20;320(6059):275–277. doi: 10.1038/320275a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hogge D. E., Humphries R. K. Gene transfer to primary normal and malignant human hemopoietic progenitors using recombinant retroviruses. Blood. 1987 Feb;69(2):611–617. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Karlsson S., Papayannopoulou T., Schweiger S. G., Stamatoyannopoulos G., Nienhuis A. W. Retroviral-mediated transfer of genomic globin genes leads to regulated production of RNA and protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Apr;84(8):2411–2415. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.8.2411. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Kollias G., Hurst J., deBoer E., Grosveld F. The human beta-globin gene contains a downstream developmental specific enhancer. Nucleic Acids Res. 1987 Jul 24;15(14):5739–5747. doi: 10.1093/nar/15.14.5739. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Lerner N., Brigham S., Goff S., Bank A. Human beta-globin gene expression after gene transfer using retroviral vectors. DNA. 1987 Dec;6(6):573–582. doi: 10.1089/dna.1987.6.573. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Mann R., Mulligan R. C., Baltimore D. Construction of a retrovirus packaging mutant and its use to produce helper-free defective retrovirus. Cell. 1983 May;33(1):153–159. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90344-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Marks P. A., Rifkind R. A. Erythroleukemic differentiation. Annu Rev Biochem. 1978;47:419–448. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.47.070178.002223. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Miller A. D., Buttimore C. Redesign of retrovirus packaging cell lines to avoid recombination leading to helper virus production. Mol Cell Biol. 1986 Aug;6(8):2895–2902. doi: 10.1128/mcb.6.8.2895. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Miller A. D., Law M. F., Verma I. M. Generation of helper-free amphotropic retroviruses that transduce a dominant-acting, methotrexate-resistant dihydrofolate reductase gene. Mol Cell Biol. 1985 Mar;5(3):431–437. doi: 10.1128/mcb.5.3.431. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Miller A. D., Ong E. S., Rosenfeld M. G., Verma I. M., Evans R. M. Infectious and selectable retrovirus containing an inducible rat growth hormone minigene. Science. 1984 Sep 7;225(4666):993–998. doi: 10.1126/science.6089340. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Miller A. D., Trauber D. R., Buttimore C. Factors involved in production of helper virus-free retrovirus vectors. Somat Cell Mol Genet. 1986 Mar;12(2):175–183. doi: 10.1007/BF01560664. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Rowe W. P., Pugh W. E., Hartley J. W. Plaque assay techniques for murine leukemia viruses. Virology. 1970 Dec;42(4):1136–1139. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(70)90362-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Stamatoyannopoulos G., Farquhar M., Lindsley D., Brice M., Papayannopoulou T., Nute P. E. Monoclonal antibodies specific for globin chains. Blood. 1983 Mar;61(3):530–539. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Trudel M., Costantini F. A 3' enhancer contributes to the stage-specific expression of the human beta-globin gene. Genes Dev. 1987 Nov;1(9):954–961. doi: 10.1101/gad.1.9.954. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Virology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES